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Read more about the article If Your Eschatology Leads To Hopelessness Then You Have The Wrong Theology

If Your Eschatology Leads To Hopelessness Then You Have The Wrong Theology

On a regular basis, whenever there are reports of moral collapse in our country or of wars and crises worldwide, someone will say to me, “This is it! Jesus is about to return! Everything is coming down!”

Could it be that we have a wrong mentality about the end of the age? Could it be that we’re missing something very important?

What I want to address here is a potentially dangerous mentality that breeds despair and hopelessness, that leads to capitulation and escapism, and that almost encourages believers to throw in the towel.

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Read more about the article The Sabbath Teaches Us Joy And Hope

The Sabbath Teaches Us Joy And Hope

Tim Keller explains that how the purpose of Sabbath is not simply to rejuvenate yourself in order to do more production, nor is it the pursuit of pleasure. The purpose of Sabbath is to enjoy your God, life in general, what you have accomplished in the world through his help, and the freedom you have in the gospel. The Sabbath is a sign of the hope that we have in the world to come.

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Read more about the article If The Church Loves For Money, Then Doesn’t That Make It A Whore?

If The Church Loves For Money, Then Doesn’t That Make It A Whore?

Today’s Throwback Thursday recalls a post from a couple of months ago in which the author considers the implications to the Church’s identity when it operates for profit.

“When a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?” There is only one answer to her question. The answer is “Yes.” The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we love Him? We don’t even know Him; and I mean really know Him.

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Read more about the article 11 Bitter Ironies Of Churchy Culture And What We Can Learn From Them

11 Bitter Ironies Of Churchy Culture And What We Can Learn From Them

Our hope should be that as we address the planks in our own eye that we would then be able to change the culture around us, not simply by our voices or our protests, but because our lives line up with what we preach and proclaim.

The point is not to throw stones at our Christian sub-culture, because we all live in glass houses as far as that’s concerned. The point of this is simply to provoke some consideration and perhaps a different way of thinking about these issues.

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Read more about the article What Happens When Militant Islamic Extremists Persecute Christians In Iraq? Nothing!

What Happens When Militant Islamic Extremists Persecute Christians In Iraq? Nothing!

For the first time in 1,600 years, Mass is not being said in Mosul: an ancient culture has been wiped out in a matter of weeks. It’s a war crime that, strangely, no one seems to want to talk about.

Mosul is the second-largest city in Iraq. Since the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) rode into town, the Christian’s faith has been forced underground. Bells have been silenced, the hijab enforced with bullets.

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Read more about the article Love The Sojourner: Considering The Illegal Immigration Issue

Love The Sojourner: Considering The Illegal Immigration Issue

As a church, we are not called to condemn or to despise these children, even if they have broken the law. From my humble point of view, these children should be treated as refugees. For those of us who call ourselves Christians, the Bible tells us to welcome the stranger.

This is not only a political matter; this is a biblical matter. It is about how we apply the gospel to this problem and recognize what Jesus expects from us.

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Read more about the article Something To Consider Before Sterilizing Yourself

Something To Consider Before Sterilizing Yourself

While the contemporary ability to determine one’s family size is heralded as a mark of Western progress, that freedom carries with it moral and spiritual responsibility. I see the value in coming alongside couples in search of godly wisdom in sharing stories and being willing to explore in prayer what God may be asking of them.

 

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Read more about the article Your Beliefs Are The Most Important Thing About You

Your Beliefs Are The Most Important Thing About You

We fail to take risks because we believe our risks will fail; we fear honesty with friends because we think they will confirm our fears; we ignore concerns about church because we’re sure our concerns will be ignored; we remain entrapped in ruts because we’re certain our ruts have trapped us.

Our problems are not bad circumstances; our problems are what we do in response. And our response—what we do (or don’t)—is always determined by what we believe.

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Read more about the article He Who Justifies The Ungodly: A Story About Romans 4:5

He Who Justifies The Ungodly: A Story About Romans 4:5

I still thought I had to attain a certain spiritual level of awesomeness before I could really receive grace.

That was until I read Roman 4:5, which I’d read plenty of times before, but that particular night God made it jump out of the page: “and to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” Romans 4:5

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Read more about the article One Family’s Story Of How They Stay On Mission Together As A Team

One Family’s Story Of How They Stay On Mission Together As A Team

Ed and Mel Zwyghuizen have three children—Gabe (19), Christian (17), and Greta (15). Together, they are known as Team Z.

We always knew we wanted to invite our kids to participate in God’s big story for the world, but as young parents, we didn’t necessarily know how. We try to be missional. We don’t want to live just for ourselves, but for others, too. We want to be an outward-facing family. One way we do this is by inviting others to join us at our family table.

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Read more about the article Stanley Hauerwas: Christian Patriotism Is An Oxymoron

Stanley Hauerwas: Christian Patriotism Is An Oxymoron

This brief interview Stanley Hauerwas affords Dr. Hawerwas with the opportunity to explain why America’s warmongering and patriotism are incompatible with the gospel of peace.

Named “America’s Best Theologian” by Time magazine in 2001, Stanley Hauerwas teaches at both Duke Divinity School and also Duke Law School. His book, A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic, was selected as one of the 100 most important books on religion of the 20th century.

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Read more about the article How To Become A Man

How To Become A Man

It’s time to draw the line between boys and men.

To sum it up in a single sentence, a real man is someone who does his duty and doesn’t shun the hard work that is necessary in providing for all the needs of his family.

A real man may never pick up a knife or a gun, or drive a tractor, or operate a chain saw, or do anything that requires being tough and burly. But he is still a real man if he does his duty with grace and fortitude, not crumbling under the load, always getting up when life and circumstances knock him down. That is a real man

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Read more about the article How To Avoid Being A Clanging Cymbal

How To Avoid Being A Clanging Cymbal

The question is actually not if you are a fake, but rather, how often? Unless you love perfectly, you are at least sometimes a fraud, a playfake, a wanna-be; you get the picture.  I mean, it doesn’t get any clearer than 1 Corinthians 13:1 when Paul says,

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”

We can’t be perfect at loving, but if we consistently do things without love, our faith is worthless and as fake as the healthiness of Diet Coke.

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Read more about the article Learning From The Life And Legacy Of J.C. Ryle

Learning From The Life And Legacy Of J.C. Ryle

He was great through the abounding grace of God. He was great in stature; great in mental power; great in spirituality; great as a preacher and expositor of God’s most holy Word; great in hospitality; great in winning souls to God; great as a writer of Gospel tracts; great as an author of works which will long live, great as a bishop of the Reformed Evangelical Protestant Church of England of which he was a noble defender, great as the first Bishop of Liverpool. I am bold to say that perhaps few men in the nineteenth century did so much for God, for truth, for righteousness, among the English speaking race and in the world as our late bishop.

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Read more about the article What Is Christian Meditation And How Can It Help You Hear God?

What Is Christian Meditation And How Can It Help You Hear God?

Most people I know have an innate desire to hear God; actually, more than a desire, an intense longing. We want to connect with the divine, to somehow see the face of God, to touch and be touched. It’s inborn, an inherent ingredient of our humanity.

Christian meditation trains our ears to distinguish God’s voice—that one instrument—amidst the orchestra of others. And once we learn to recognize God’s voice, we begin to hear it “time and again, in various ways.”

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Read more about the article You Can’t Save Your Children, So Call Out To The One Who Can

You Can’t Save Your Children, So Call Out To The One Who Can

“But wait…,” some might say, “how is God going to hold me accountable for something that I have no ability to accomplish myself?”

You are right, you cannot save your children. But God never called you to save them. He has called you to care for them. You are to shepherd their hearts with the word of God (Eph. 6.4; cf also Deut. 4.9 ; 6.7 ; 11.19). And you are to carry your cares of their salvation to the throne of grace for mercy and help (Heb. 4.16; 1 Pet. 5.7). It is this that you will be accountable for.

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Read more about the article Devotion Isn’t A Thing You Do But The Way You Live

Devotion Isn’t A Thing You Do But The Way You Live

I’m very concerned with the way modern Christianity tends to think about our “devotional life.” It seems as if we’ve reduced these devotions down to five minutes of reading a Psalm and saying a quick prayer for the day, or, reading an e-mail devotional sent out by a pastor.

The Bible paints a much different picture of a devotional life. For the Christian, a lifestyle of devotion shouldn’t be reduced to an activity or daily routine; a lifestyle of devotion is characterized by a heart that’s owned by Christ.

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Read more about the article How “Slow Church” Corrects The Imbalance Of Mega-Church

How “Slow Church” Corrects The Imbalance Of Mega-Church

Going to church these days can be a bit like eating at a fast food joint. It might be quick and tasty, but it won’t satisfy your soul.

C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison, are part of a loose network of writers, friends, theologians and pastors worried about what they call the “McDonaldization” of church. They say too many small churches try to mass-produce spiritual growth by copying the latest megachurch techniques.

Scott Thumma, a sociologist of religion at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn., says the slow church movement makes for good theology.

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Read more about the article When Financial Stewardship Becomes Financial Worship

When Financial Stewardship Becomes Financial Worship

Perhaps a love of money has less to do with its presence or absence, and more to do with its hold in our hearts. Maybe it has less to do with whether we have more or less money, and more to do with whether our thoughts, conversations, and budgets are excessively focused on it.

Paul’s plea is a plea for contentment and simplicity, not for relentless counting, budgeting, and price-checking. The goal is not to have very little money, but to think little of money.

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Read more about the article Beware The Anti-Israel Bias Of The Media

Beware The Anti-Israel Bias Of The Media

With tensions in Israel escalating and more journalistic attention being focused on the situation, it becomes even more important than ever to understand that there is a pervasive and powerful bias in the mainstream media against Israel. The video above offers just one case study in this reality, but many more could be provided. The mere fact that organizations such as Honest Reporting and CAMERA exist is testimony to the fact that this long-standing bias is is alive and well in the media these days.

Note: See also another example calling out the ongoing bias from the NY Times, and yet another example also involving the NY Times.

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Read more about the article N.T. Wright Says Disunity Is The Major Problem With Western Christianity

N.T. Wright Says Disunity Is The Major Problem With Western Christianity

In this 3 minute video, N.T Wright gives his perspective that the main problem the Western Church faces is a lack of unity.

What do you think? Is he right, wrong, or something else? Is there another matter you would contend is more significant? Let us know in the comments below… (more…)

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Read more about the article Shane Claiborne Explains Why The Sermon On The Mount Needs No Explanation

Shane Claiborne Explains Why The Sermon On The Mount Needs No Explanation

Shane Claiborne was once invited to a conference as a speaker. For his speech, he simply read the whole Sermon on the Mount and then sat down. In this 4 minute video, he explains why he did that. Perhaps we lose the simplicity of the message as we try to explain it and embellish it. Maybe we need only ask what it would look like to believe what Jesus said. (more…)

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Read more about the article A Story Of How Muslims Are Becoming Fishers Of Men Through Storytelling

A Story Of How Muslims Are Becoming Fishers Of Men Through Storytelling

Oral story telling is proving to be one of the most effective means of communicating the gospel, and specifically the biblical narrative.

For many Muslims, the Bible is considered haram (i.e. forbidden) because it is believed that Christians have changed it and therefore corrupted it. Appreciating these realities, fruitful teams make a bridge using Islamic terms (e.g. Injil for gospel; Isa for Jesus; etc.) and thought patterns. This is not so much about using the content of the Quran, but rather it is about reflecting the value of sharing the gospel using terms, symbols, and forms of thought that are familiar to peoples with an Islamic heritage.

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Read more about the article If The Church Has Jewish Roots, Then Might It Also Share A Destiny With Israel?

If The Church Has Jewish Roots, Then Might It Also Share A Destiny With Israel?

the church and Israel are part of one another’s identity. Israel is the nation that has given birth to the church and will forever be connected to it. The church was born from Israel and is tied to Israel through Yeshua and the Messianic remnant and will forever have its identity in that connection.

 

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Read more about the article It Takes A Manly Leader To Lead Men, So Where Are The Manly Leaders?

It Takes A Manly Leader To Lead Men, So Where Are The Manly Leaders?

Men follow men. We must resist the temptation to sacrifice our masculinity for a gender-inclusive form of Christianity that appeals to women and children but alienates men. Men come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and masculinity is not defined by any one particular trait, but we must embrace it if we are to reach men.

Do not be people of God, be men of God. There is a difference, own that difference, and watch men respond.

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Read more about the article How To Reconcile Hitler And The Christian Pacifist

How To Reconcile Hitler And The Christian Pacifist

How was Hitler able to convince Christian soldiers to kill other Christians in Poland, France, and Russia? Hasn’t something gone tragically wrong with the church when Christians can be persuaded to kill other Christians in the name of ideology and nationalism? The enduring catastrophe of Constantine subverting the kingdom of God was that the politics of Jesus were set aside for the interests of empire.

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Read more about the article Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Disciple Who Counted The Cost

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Disciple Who Counted The Cost

This 5 minute video offers a brief summary of the life and significance of Dietrich Bonhoeffer during the Nazi regime in WWII. Bonhoeffer is often known for his book The Cost of Discipleship. As you shall see, that book was not merely an academic exercise for him. He acted on faith to follow Jesus, no matter the cost.

See previous post for more perspective on how Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s story is instructive to disciples of Jesus today.

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Read more about the article Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Prophetic Witness Against A Faithless Church

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Prophetic Witness Against A Faithless Church

I worry that people will think that large gestures of protest are the way to change the world, rather than entering on the difficult daily path of ordinary resistance.

You see, Bonhoeffer had to be Bonhoeffer because the national church in Germany failed to be the church at all.

This is the forgotten lesson of Bonhoeffer: The Church in Germany had failed!

Note: See also the video about Bonhoeffer in the previous post.

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Read more about the article How To Spot A Religious Person

How To Spot A Religious Person

Randy Bohlender explains how a person with a religious spirit is someone who is hellbent on division.

They want to differentiate between your faith and theirs, and of course, theirs comes out on top. They need to delineate differences, they’re driven to accentuate distinctions rather than commonalities, and when they’ve decimated those on the edge of the herd, they’ll turn on one another.

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Read more about the article The Great Commission Isn’t About You

The Great Commission Isn’t About You

We understand conversion as more than mere assent to Christianity’s teaching and more than mere observance of rites and rituals associated with the church. It’s no wonder that sharing our stories is a main aspect of evangelical identity and evangelistic activity.

But there’s a subtle danger lurking here. Because of our emphasis on conversion stories and testimonies, we can unintentionally make people think that evangelism is the same thing as sharing your experience.

We interpret The Great Commission’s “Go make disciples” as “Go tell your story.” They are not the same thing.

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Read more about the article How The Great Commission Can Be All Talk And No Walk

How The Great Commission Can Be All Talk And No Walk

Leaders tell members to do the Great Commission without teaching them how. Most churches are guilty here. We tell folks to share the gospel with their neighbors but seldom train them to do so. We speak about discipling others, yet expect members to learn on their own how to do it. Likewise, we challenge folks to go to the nations without adequately assuring them of training and support. When we tell without teaching, we shouldn’t be surprised when our churches only talk about the Great Commission.

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Read more about the article Francis Chan Destroys The Bad Doctrine Of Good People

Francis Chan Destroys The Bad Doctrine Of Good People

Francis Chan tackles two of the most insidious and destructive lies that are commonly propagated today. People tend to think they are good people. The Bible says otherwise. Also, people have a problem with the idea that God has wrath and will punish. If that were so, would we still find God to be good if he did not oppose the wickedness of the Devil? Probably not. We only want God to refrain from punishment when it is we who are on trial. Make no mistake, we are not good and God will punish sin.

See previous post to see this point applied to parenting. (more…)

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Read more about the article Your Child Is A Sinner, This I Know, For The Bible Tells Me So

Your Child Is A Sinner, This I Know, For The Bible Tells Me So

Sure, there are some “bad apples” out there, but your cute little Johnny is an angel, I’m sure. The bad doctrine of good people (see next post) doesn’t apply to your saintly little progeny, right? After all, how could there be a sinful heart behind that incredibly adorable smile?

We have to reckon with the truth of Scripture on this topic and be prepared to parent accordingly…

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Read more about the article How To Love The Church Even After You Feel Like You’ve Been Lied To

How To Love The Church Even After You Feel Like You’ve Been Lied To

Truth and lies, hope and despair, real and fake – all tied up in a neat package with a bow and sold to us with the label of “Christianity”. The men in the suits with all the words told us that what they taught was true. We believed them because we were children, and because their voices were the only voices we’d ever heard.

Then we grew up.

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Read more about the article How To Overcome Sin

How To Overcome Sin

So often we tell the sinner to “Just stop sinning and repent.” And when he returns to his sin again, his shame grows more and more as he starts to think that Jesus doesn’t care for him because if He did then He would have completely removed this thorn. I hear you. Yours is a constant refrain that I hear from Christians of various backgrounds, “Maybe I am lost. Why can’t I just get over this?” I have been there myself.  “Why can’t I get over this?  Why are you not helping me God?”

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Read more about the article Learning From Weirdos: What Can Christians Of The Past Teach Us?

Learning From Weirdos: What Can Christians Of The Past Teach Us?

This is why I post articles on DailyEdify about people from Church history. We can learn a lot from disciples who have lived before us. This is not to say that they are flawless. In fact, many are really really weird and even experimented with heresy at times. And yet, it seems that God gave them something that is important for the rest of the Body to see. Thus, we try to learn what we can from such “weirdos” while not necessarily consuming every word they say as gospel truth. Be a discerning reader, but by all means, learn from those who have walked before us. This article says it well…

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Read more about the article John Calvin Is Not The Founder Of Calvinism

John Calvin Is Not The Founder Of Calvinism

It wasn’t until the 19th Century that Calvin’s works were published far enough to gain a wide readership, so after his death there spanned an almost 300 year gap before his modern influence.

In order to explain how Reformed churches and Calvinist churches spread around the world, you have to look at other actors. The total effect of Calvinism came from these ad-hoc, haphazard efforts of churchmen, ministers, leaders in various parts of the world, without any kind of larger organization trying to coordinate them. (more…)

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Read more about the article Who Wants A Free Timeshare In Heaven?

Who Wants A Free Timeshare In Heaven?

What is the point of being a Christian anyway?

There are a lot of bait-and-switch jobs we do to get people to accept Jesus. They are the little Easter Eggs that we scatter around in the hopes of making Jesus more appealing. But I’ve got to think that the greatest trick that we have perpetrated, the biggest bait-and-switch of all time has got to be the certainty that if you accept Jesus, you get to go to heaven when you die.

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Read more about the article God Will Not Give You Scorpions As You Seek Spiritual Gifts

God Will Not Give You Scorpions As You Seek Spiritual Gifts

Why would God tell us to seek after something, and then turn around and allow us to receive something from the devil? He doesn’t.

On the contrary, He knows how to give good gifts to those who ask. Seeking spiritual gifts will NOT open you up to demonic influence.

Opening yourself up to demonic influence will open you up to demonic influence, not seeking God Himself, who withholds no good thing from them who ask and upon whom there is no shadow caused by turning.

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Read more about the article Playing The Leviticus Game: A Case Study In Biblical Interpretation

Playing The Leviticus Game: A Case Study In Biblical Interpretation

Have you ever played the Leviticus game?

Player 1 begins with Leviticus 18:22, which says, “Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.”

But if you want to continue playing the game, find as many crazy-sounding laws in the book of Leviticus as you can. The object of the game is to show that modern Christians should reject all of those laws, including the ones about homosexuality. The Leviticus game may be easy and fun, but it has problems.

Note: This article is a good read in light of our other recent post about how to read Leviticus.

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Read more about the article What If We Celebrated Dependence Instead Of Independence?

What If We Celebrated Dependence Instead Of Independence?

July 4th is a quintessential American holiday. It’s the day we celebrate our independence. Let’s ask an important question, though: How does a disciple of Jesus celebrate independence in light of the teaching of Scripture to depend on God?

If the 4th of July is to be a celebration, let it be a celebration of Jesus as king. Let it be a celebration of our citizenship in His Kingdom. Let us celebrate God’s supremacy over all kingdoms and rulers. Let us celebrate that we are totally dependent upon God.

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Read more about the article What Happens When Authorities Reject God As Their Authority?

What Happens When Authorities Reject God As Their Authority?

The authors of the Declaration of Independence understood from Scripture that government is a sacred trust given by God to protect the inherent rights of people created in His image. They had no other recourse, they stated in the document, but to declare their independence from the tyrant who represented neither them nor the God who entrusted him with his position of leadership. They rejected his authority because King George had rejected His authority.

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Read more about the article Happy Birthday To Our [not so] Christian Nation

Happy Birthday To Our [not so] Christian Nation

America Was Never a Christian Nation Folks

“We need to take back America for Jesus and make this once again a Christian nation.”  How many times have you heard this battle-cry from Christians?  It goes something like this:

Our founding fathers founded this country on Christian principles and ever since then, we’ve digressed; and now, because of our bad decisions, we are at a place of immense depravity.  And if the Christians don’t lead the way in bringing us back to God, there’s going to be some hell to pay from a wrathful God.

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Read more about the article 10 Things To Know About Pentecostals Before You Call Them Crazy

10 Things To Know About Pentecostals Before You Call Them Crazy

If you happen to tune into the Oxygen network’s Preachers of L.A. or National Geographic Channel’s Snake Salvation, you might be tempted to believe all Pentecostals are either money-grubbing charlatans or misguided rural bumpkins. But the truth is never in the media stereotypes.

Some people think Pentecostals are brainless weirdos who go into uncontrollable fits during religious services. They’re surprised to learn we have advanced degrees, own businesses, hold public office and mobilize a lot of the world’s charitable work.

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Read more about the article Community Church That Is Truly In The Community | Tim Soerens

Community Church That Is Truly In The Community | Tim Soerens

Today’s Throwback Thursday article recalls our previous post of an excellent conversation with Tim Soerens, the co-founding director of the Parish Collective. See what Tim has to say about disciples of Jesus committing to loving a place and how their presence in that place can be transformative.

Warning: This article might challenge your paradigm about church and community.

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Read more about the article Forgiveness Is Both Costly And Necessary

Forgiveness Is Both Costly And Necessary

If you’ve ever really forgiven somebody, forgiven some real wrong, all forgiveness is suffering. If you say “I forgave and I didn’t suffer,” it wasn’t that serious a wrong. But if you have ever really been wronged, and if you have forgiven it, then you have suffered. Because all forgiveness is a form of suffering.

Forgiveness means we pay our betrayer’s debt.

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Read more about the article How To Respond To A Fool For His Own Good

How To Respond To A Fool For His Own Good

Do not get in the way and try to save the fool from his ruin.  Let it happen. The consequence of his ruin may be exactly what the fool needs. Because God may use this ruin, this “rock bottom,” to soften his heart and bring regeneration. Continue to love the fool.  Do not hate him, or despise him. The point in all this is we cannot use reason to turn a fool from his folly, and even rebuke and severe discipline may not work. But nobody is beyond hope.

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Read more about the article See What It Looks Like To Live As A Man On Fire: The Story Of John G. Lake

See What It Looks Like To Live As A Man On Fire: The Story Of John G. Lake

John Lake’s ministry was a powerful example of faith in action. He led an extraordinary life, and believed that EVERY Christian ought to live such a life, experiencing the fullness of Christ.  Lake never ceased to exhort others to attain this fullness, which God is ready and willing to bestow.

In 1914 he opened the ‘Healing Rooms’ in Spokane, WA, where there were more than 100,000 medically confirmed healings in the space of only 5 years.

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Read more about the article How To Be A Super Mom

How To Be A Super Mom

That maybe being the mama I want to be isn’t so much about being more, but trusting more –  trusting more in the God of Hagar and Ruth and Hannah, the God who sees the angst, who nourishes the empty places, who hears the unspoken cries —  and answers.

If I make God first and am most satisfied in His love — then I’m released to love my children fully and satisfactorily.

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Read more about the article Gunpoint Evangelism: That’s One Way To Do It, I Guess

Gunpoint Evangelism: That’s One Way To Do It, I Guess

The lead pastor told the Joplin Globe “We’re just dudes,” adding, “If we can get more people to follow Jesus, I’ll give away 1,000 guns. I don’t care.”

However, the contest sparked controversy, as some residents accused the church of promoting violence. Mooneyham pushed back, arguing that “People are crazy, period. Murder has been going on since the beginning of time.” Ignite isn’t the first church to raffle off weapons.

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Read more about the article Only Weird Christians Support The Nation Of Israel, Right?

Only Weird Christians Support The Nation Of Israel, Right?

After 2,000 years of Replacement Theology, the existence of devout Christians who support the Jewish State of Israel is a mind-blowing reality. Both Jews and Christians involved in this world should not take this support for granted. After all, the vast majority of Christian traditions regard the church and Israel as one-and-the-same, a transcendental entity without borders or boundaries in this world.

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Read more about the article Learn In 6 Minutes How To Read Leviticus | Tim Mackie

Learn In 6 Minutes How To Read Leviticus | Tim Mackie

Tim Mackie shares a big picture overview of the book of Leviticus in order to help people know how to read it. Contrary to popular belief, Leviticus is not merely a book of tedious and arbitrary rules with no point or relevance for today. Indeed, it is a book with a very important message for all of God’s people, and it gives us a look at the ways of God. Most importantly, it provides much of the language and theological backdrop that is necessary to appreciate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This 6 minute video could revolutionize your view of the book of Leviticus. Enjoy…

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Read more about the article 5 Examples Of How Scripture Is Abused

5 Examples Of How Scripture Is Abused

Christians read (and quote) Scripture in tiny, artificial fragments all the time. And by doing so, do we alter the meaning without even realizing it. But the Twitterized Bible often leads us down the wrong path because it reinforces an artificial structure on the text. If I’m free to ignore the larger context, then it becomes easier to read the Bible like a narcissist. The thing is, the Bible is not all about me. It wasn’t even written to me. And ironically, if I’m going to get whatever it has for me, I need to start reading it with that in mind. (more…)

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Read more about the article If Jesus Is A King, Then Shouldn’t He Have Servants?

If Jesus Is A King, Then Shouldn’t He Have Servants?

How do you feel about being called a servant? How do you feel about being a “go-fer” —someone who does the little things, the difficult things? How do you feel about putting the needs of others ahead of your own?

One of the amazing things about the life of Jesus is that while no one else deserved to be served by others more than he did, he came not to be served, but to serve.

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Read more about the article The Most Important Thing To Do In Preparation For Marriage

The Most Important Thing To Do In Preparation For Marriage

Having an idea of what you are looking for in a significant other is great! It means you actually took time to be honest with what you are really looking for in a relationship. But if I’m really honest with you, I think there is something more important than a list of non-negotiables.

Can you guess what it is?

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Read more about the article Should Christians Practice Yoga?

Should Christians Practice Yoga?

Some questions we ask today would simply baffle our ancestors. When Christians ask whether believers should practice yoga, they are asking a question that betrays the strangeness of our current cultural moment — a time in which yoga seems almost mainstream in America.

It was not always so. The embrace of yoga is a symptom of our postmodern spiritual confusion, and, to our shame, this confusion reaches into the church.

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Read more about the article The Story Of Francis Of Assisi

The Story Of Francis Of Assisi

Francis was born in the stony hill-town of Assisi in Umbria, in the year 1181 or 1182. His father, Peter Bernadone, was a wealthy merchant. As a youth he was ardent in his amusements and seemed carried away by the mere joy of living, taking no interest at all in his father’s business or in formal learning. It was the age of chivalry, and he was thrilled by the songs of the troubadours and the deeds of knights.

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Read more about the article Remembering The Bread Of Presence When The King Seems Absent

Remembering The Bread Of Presence When The King Seems Absent

That evening as they sat together at table, the mysterious Stranger took the bread, blessed and broke it, and, when he offered the bread…something incredible happened! For an instant the two disciples recognized the Stranger as…Jesus!…then he vanished! Poof! Gone! But the bread Jesus had been holding in his hands fell to the table. The blessed and broken bread hit the table in a most emphatic way! Jesus had been recognized for a fleeting moment, then he had vanished. But in his place the bread remained. Don’t miss that. The Bread Remained!

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Read more about the article What Evangelicals Can Learn From Catholics

What Evangelicals Can Learn From Catholics

The idea of Evangelicals learning from Catholics is not really a novel one. Many Evangelical missionaries study the history of Catholic missions to improve the effectiveness of their own missionary activity. Some Evangelicals, obeying St. Paul’s dictum to “test everything; hold on to what is good,” even study the writings of John Paul II on the theology of the body.

Although there are many treasures within the Catholic Church, the two that Evangelicals might find most beneficial are liturgical worship and an emphasis on unity.

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Read more about the article The Best Hospitality Happens When You’re Not Dressed Up

The Best Hospitality Happens When You’re Not Dressed Up

Over the years, that to-do list has prepared us for hosting company, but it has also prevented us from welcoming friends in our home. Unwritten Southern rules of offering hospitality with excellence have affected how often we invite people in our home. ‘We should have the __________s over sometime.’ And then we delay or postpone the invitation. Why? Because the to-do list is always there, the gap between our day-to-day home and the presentable, acceptable-for-hospitality version of our home.

But over the past several months, Emily and I are learning to lay those conventions aside.

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Read more about the article Why The Missional Movement Will Fail | Mike Breen

Why The Missional Movement Will Fail | Mike Breen

In honor of Throwback Thursday, I want to recall one of our earliest posts. Mike Breen puts his finger on a problem that is plaguing the so-called “missional movement.”

It’s time we start being brutally honest about the missional movement that has emerged in the last 10-15 years: Chances are better than not it’s going to fail.

If you make disciples, you will always get the church. But if you try to build the church, you will rarely get disciples.

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Read more about the article All Of Society Suffers When Boys Can’t Become Men

All Of Society Suffers When Boys Can’t Become Men

About 150 years ago, Western men began forming and joining organizations that promoted a noble vision of manhood. That infrastructure created some of the finest men the world has ever known. We called them “the greatest generation.” They built the most prosperous economy in history and presided over an era of unprecedented peace.

Yet for the past fifty years we have been dismantling the very infrastructure that made these men great, in the name of gender equality.

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Read more about the article Science Is Thinking God’s Thoughts After Him | Johann Kepler

Science Is Thinking God’s Thoughts After Him | Johann Kepler

Kepler believed that there was an art and orderliness in God’s creation and that the more Christians recognized the greatness of creation, the deeper their worship would be. Didn’t God himself encourage the heathen to look carefully at creation so that they might come to know God? The chief aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order and harmony which has been imposed on it by God and which He revealed to us in the language of mathematics. In his astronomical research, Kepler only wanted to, as he put it, “think God’s thoughts after Him.”

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Read more about the article Must The Bad News Precede The Good News?

Must The Bad News Precede The Good News?

I’ve had lots of discussions with with folks over the years about how they think evangelism is to be done, and have written about it extensively.  One idea keeps resurfacing.  It’s the idea that we’ve got to convince people of the ‘bad news’ before we get to the ‘good news.’

Some people like to start their presentation of the gospel with a happy thought, such as, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” This was not Paul’s method.

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Read more about the article Can Spiritual Gifts Build Up The Church Online?

Can Spiritual Gifts Build Up The Church Online?

And He gave some as E-postles, E-prophets, E-vangelists, E-pastors, and E-teachers for the E-quipping of the saints for the work of service and E-difying the body of Christ.

E-Ministry to an E-generation?

There can never be a complete disconnect from organic stone & mortar ministry (1 Peter 2:5). Likewise,  the church cannot cease E-xtending our flesh wrapped hands in fellowship. But, she also cannot reject the E-world reality. How we minister to one another and those outside of the church, must include E-vangleism.

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Read more about the article See What Messianic Jewish Believers In Jesus Are Up To

See What Messianic Jewish Believers In Jesus Are Up To

Jesus was Jewish. I know, it’s shocking. What’s actually shocking is how quickly Christians forget this fact and forget the Hebrew roots of their faith.

What is encouraging is that a growing number of Jewish people are recognizing Jesus (Yeshua) as the Messiah and trusting him as their savior (Messianic Jews). These Jewish followers of Jesus are doing some wonderful and amazing work in the Body of Christ. The 3 minute video above is just a small taste of what this looks like. (more…)

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Read more about the article The Disciples Understood God Would Restore Ethnic Israel, So Why Can’t We?

The Disciples Understood God Would Restore Ethnic Israel, So Why Can’t We?

Of course the mystery that is revealed in the New Covenant is that anyone, from any nation, regardless of race, gender or status, can come to the Messiah and receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

In the Kingdom there is no second class, but that doesn’t negate the fact that God will keep His promises to the people who brought His Messiah to the nations—Israel.

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Read more about the article Evangelical Worship Is About To Crash And Go Boom

Evangelical Worship Is About To Crash And Go Boom

You’re not reading the ramblings of a curmudgeony guy complaining about all the new-fangled things the kids are doing these days, with their drums and tom-toms and electric geetars. You’re reading the heart-cry of a normal guy who’s worried about what worship leaders are doing to themselves and their congregations.

People are tuning out and giving up and just watching.

Note: Consider this post in conjunction with the previous post about Rich Mullins.
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Read more about the article 10 Reasons To Exit Churchianity | Frank Viola

10 Reasons To Exit Churchianity | Frank Viola

Virtually every time I catch wind of the phrase — “leaving church” — almost always, the person using the phrase never explains what he/she means by “church.”

A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith.
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Read more about the article If A Pastor Can’t Make A Disciple, Then Who Can? How About A Mentor?

If A Pastor Can’t Make A Disciple, Then Who Can? How About A Mentor?

The pattern and ethos of Jesus-style discipleship revolves around the idea that it is disciples who in turn make disciples. According to the New Testament pattern, pastors, church programs, and preaching alone are not what make disciples. No, it is very clear that Jesus intended that all of his followers become disciples and then in turn be disciple makers, regardless of their vocation. The “follow me” framework of disciple making is one of the most integral cogs for carrying out the Great Commission.
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Read more about the article What Happens When The Mission Shifts From Making Disciples To Bringing Justice

What Happens When The Mission Shifts From Making Disciples To Bringing Justice

Unfortunately, in some of our circles there’s been a subtle shift away from the main thing. Justice has replaced Jesus as the new North Star. First priority is no longer bringing Jesus to a lost and dying world. It’s bringing mercy and justice to a suffering and disadvantaged world. Jesus has become an optional add-on.

The shift from offering mercy and justice in the name of Jesus to offering mercy and justice without mentioning his name may seem subtle. After all, we’re still doing the things he has called us to do. But it’s a subtle shift with huge consequences because the moment Jesus becomes optional, the Great commission has been redefined.

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Read more about the article Ladies: Remember The Beauty You Already Are

Ladies: Remember The Beauty You Already Are

Dear Daughter,

When we stood in the check-out and you leaned over and said, “What? I can’t hear you?” I could read it right then in your eyes.

Right there by all the glossy magazines screaming at you like a pack of jockeying hawkers.

If you listen long enough to all the loud voices about who you should be, you grow deaf to the beauty of who you are.

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Read more about the article Sabbath: The Gift Few Christians Accept

Sabbath: The Gift Few Christians Accept

Shabbat Shalom! That’s what Jews around the world will be saying to one another today. They are preparing to observe the Sabbath.

Jesus said that the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. Consider the Sabbath a gift. We were offered a time to rest, recharge and worship God. We are offered this gift of rest, but we usually refuse it.

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Read more about the article How Christians Should Watch Movies

How Christians Should Watch Movies

Art is to be enjoyed, admired, and appreciated for its beauty as well as the medium in which that beauty is expressed. Art is also an outward expression of the beliefs and values of its artist. Art is beauty but it is also a message. Unfortunately, people often watch movies as passive observers treating the stories in movies as mere entertainment without giving due attention to the message being presented.  We believe that every expression of art, whether it is a movie, a song, or a painting, is a medium to communicate a certain worldview of its creator with an accompanying message. We also believe it is our responsibility as humans (created Images of God endowed with the ability to create) to discern whether this worldview is in line with the Christian worldview expressed by the Author of Life through Scripture.

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Read more about the article If God Isn’t Your Employee, Then Why Do You Speak To Him As If He Is?

If God Isn’t Your Employee, Then Why Do You Speak To Him As If He Is?

If I asked someone, “Do you think you know better than God?” I’m pretty sure most would say no. However, if you listen to their prayers it sounds more like a conversation between an employer and an employee than it does a servant to God.

My concern isn’t with “fix it” prayers in general. I’m concerned for a lot of Christians that are overly obsessed with “fix it” prayers and make no acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty or of His perfect purposes that typically work through our pain.

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Read more about the article Parents Cannot Save Children

Parents Cannot Save Children

When I first realized that it brought me so much comfort in my parenting. I do a lot of stuff right with my kids, but I also do a lot of things wrong. The thing is I can’t give them salvation and I can’t take it away. Parents, rest in that today. Let that truth sink in. We are given the role to guide them, share with them, and even show them the right way, but, parents, we can not save our kids.

 

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Read more about the article Let Consumer Church Perish And Let The Parish Thrive

Let Consumer Church Perish And Let The Parish Thrive

A movement is growing that will radically shift this generation’s understanding of that perennially elusive word: church. Oddly enough, if you go looking for this movement on a Sunday morning you’ll probably come up empty. Thousands of Christians are reclaiming the ancient idea of the “parish” and weaving together a shared life in the place they call home.

 

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Read more about the article Introverts Make Great Evangelists, They Just Don’t Know It Yet

Introverts Make Great Evangelists, They Just Don’t Know It Yet

Essentially, we train folks to fit into a specific personality type and call it evangelism training. We are training people to be extrovert evangelists. However, in the body of Christ, not everyone fits this extrovert mold, yet people think this is how all followers of Jesus must be and live. We must stop calling everyone to be an extrovert evangelist and allow people, specifically introverts, to live out the identity of evangelist and missionary in the way God has made them.

Note: Be sure to use the page number buttons below the social sharing buttons in the article to access all 4 pages of the article.

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Read more about the article It’s Always Someone Else’s Fault That Disciples Are Not Being Made

It’s Always Someone Else’s Fault That Disciples Are Not Being Made

The refrain of the garden echoes through the halls of our churches. It’s always someone else’s fault. We have become masters at diverting responsibility and placing blame. Everyone is to blame except the one who is actually responsible and who will ultimately be held accountable.

The responsibility for making disciples does not rest with a denomination, a state convention, a seminary, a parachurch organization or a pastor and deacon board. The responsibility is given to all of God’s people in and through His church.

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